Archive for December, 2015

Just got home, need to head out again, but realized I didn’t make a specific post about tonight’s 144.240 net. Good news, it’s ON. WB9LYH in EN54cl (central WI, near WI Rapids) will start the net at 8pm central/9pm eastern, as usual. More specifics are available in other net announcements, just scroll down this front page a little.
Thanks and Happy New Year.

Please extend my apologies to the guys. The kids came and I was a half hour late. That haveing been said, the conditions were the worst ever. Noise, lightning crashes, and some aurora effects. Checkins were KB9PSE, WA9BNZ, and W0KWZ. Several other stations tried, to no avail. We will try again next Wednesday, hopefully with better conditions.

Thank you for your support, and Merry Christmas.

Mark

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WB9LYH would like VHF’ers to know that he will be back calling the Wed. 144.240 net as usual tomorrow night. Start time 8pm central/9pm eastern. WB9LYH is located in EN54cl, right in the middle of WI, near WI Rapids. Big signal from a ridgetop QTH and the antenna pattern is to start out looking NE, then E, SE, S, SW, W, NW and N over the next 45-60 minutes, give or take, depending on activity levels.
All licensed amateurs are welcome, the net is informal and the goal is to increase activity on 2m SSB. DX is welcome to listen along and see if they hear anything. We appreciate you spreading the word in a very wide area surrounding WI; we always enjoy new check-ins and treasure our regulars, going back to 2008.

Not sure how N9XKH’s nets went the past two Wednesdays. If I get a net report, I’ll make sure to post it here.

Posted in Blog Post | Comments Off on WB9LYH Back with 144.240 Net on Wed., Dec. 22nd

I should have shared this last week — K8TQK emailed me to say that his rotor isn’t working and until someone can go up and make the necessary repairs, Bob is off the air. K8TQK isn’t quite sure when the 144.252 net will be back on. If I hear more, I will post it here. Also can monitor the ON4KST.com ham chat room (specifically talking about the IARU Region 2 Chat for 144-432 MHz) on Mondays and see if Bob announces any changes.

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We’ve had beautiful ice fog the past few mornings. Looks like this morning’s the same. This kind of weather often means enhanced band conditions on the VHF/UHF frequencies. The basic mechanism is a temperature inversion, meaning warmer air slightly above the earth’s surface, with colder air near ground level. These inversions tend to be strongest during the nighttime into the morning hours. It would probably pay to get on the air this morning and see if the VHF/UHF signals are stronger than normal.

I’m posting this morning to get caught up with net reports.

First, an announcement. As already posted here at kc9bqa.com, the 144.240 Wed. night net will have N9XKH as a guest net control for both Dec. 9 and 16. N9XKH is in EN52il (WI/ILL state line, south of Madison, WI) Dennis has helped out several times the past few years. He’s got a nice signal but doesn’t have a lot of spare time to get on the air. So when he is able to call a net, N9XKH really appreciates lots of stations checking in and giving him signal reports. Help spread the word about this change for the 144.240 net on Wed. Dec. 9th and 16th.
Net will have the same start time — 8pm central and 9pm eastern — and same basic antenna pattern. Start out looking NE into MI, then look E, SE, S, SW, W, NW and N over the next 45-60 minutes, depending on how much activity there is.

144.240 Wed. Net Reports —
WB9LYH did not call a net on Wed., Nov. 25th. This was a Thanksgiving break.
On Wed., Dec. 2nd, WB9LYH was back and reported there was some propagation around the Midwest, with some strong signals. Mark’s 12 check-ins were: N9YK EN71; KD9BGY, N9JBW, K9ILU and K9CCL EN61; KC9OVD and N9RXM EN41; K0TPP EM48; WA9BNZ and W9BBP EN40; KB9PSE EN52 and N0IRS EM29.

As mentioned many times before, the 144.252 net is called every Monday at 8:30pm eastern. K8TQK is net control, located in EM89je, south-central OH, near Chillicothe. All licensed amateurs are welcome. The net is informal and the goal is to increase activity on 2m SSB. DX is always encouraged to give it a try, as K8TQK has a whopping signal from a hilltop QTH.
K8TQK’s antenna pattern is to start out looking N, then NE, E, SE, S, SW, W and NW over the next 45-60 minutes. Depends on how busy the net is.

N9XKH will call the 144.240 Wed. net the next two weeks. Dennis is in EN52il, which is on the WI/ILL border, a little ways south of Madison, WI. Dennis has helped before. He has a nice signal and always enjoys getting check-ins who can give him feedback on how well his station is getting out. Do N9XKH and the net a favor and spread the word about this change.

So on Wed. Dec. 9th and Wed. Dec. 16th, with the 144.240 net, look toward N9XKH on the WI/ILL border, grid square EN52il. Net will start at the same time — 8pm central/9pm eastern — and the antenna pattern will be the same. Net control starts out looking into MI, then edges down toward OH and IN, then starts looking south down the length of IL, edging SW into MO and KS and shifting W toward IA and ending up looking NW toward MN and N into WI and the U.P. of MI, if anyone’s out there. The whole process takes about 40-60 minutes, depending on how busy net control is.

I don’t have time tonight to get caught up with the net reports, but I’ll get them done sometime later Saturday or Sunday.

Enjoy the beautiful weather — long-range forecasts look mild right into the weekend of the 11th and 12th.

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